Weight loss is a side effect of fitness. Thank you for visiting and reading. Please feel free to comment, I don't answer very often because I have had my say, and the comments are for you to have yours. Just remember, even if we disagree, I don't require you to be wrong, for me to be correct in my thinking!

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Monthly Archives: June 2011

Exercising with weights is a simple as lifting things up and putting them down. I am not kidding yet, we as human beings tend to complicate everything. I have to chuckle when I am in the gym and I watch every day folks doing advanced training techniques they read about in a magazine or someone told them about. However, I am not laughing at them, I admire the fact that they are in the gym; working out, trying to improve their health and fitness, but I notice that in the years they have been going in they haven’t altered themselves very much.

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Exercising is not complicated. You literally do something over and over again. The biggest key is consistency. Advanced training techniques can be fun once in awhile, but they aren’t for the every day person, whose goal is to simply improve their health. For one, those that utilize the advanced techniques are athletes by profession; they are working out several hours a day and have the free time to allow themselves to recuperate from grueling workouts. Most of us have jobs and after the time we have in the gym, we have jobs to do, families to attend to and other responsibilities that take not only our time, but our energy.

But, for some reason, people think complicated is better. For endurance exercise they take various classes to keep themselves from getting bored. They will spend up to ninety minutes trying to burn off body fat, when in essence because of excess carbohydrate consumption about an hour of that time is wasted burning carbs that they should not have ingested in the first place.

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Endurance, strength and fitness are easy to build. You pick an exercise, you repeat it and most importantly; be consistent. I am not saying you should never mix it up a bit, but your core exercises should have consistency, especially for the beginner. I watch as a new person enters the gym and every six to eight weeks they are completely changing their routines. They haven’t laid the foundation of consistency, so they don’t get the resulsts they expect and you know what happens? They quit. The solution to boredom is NOT always chaning things up, the real solution is getting results. The best way to get results is to remain consistent.

In the realm of progressive resistance exercises, weight training is nothing more than lifting things up and putting them down. It is that simple. If you are morbidly obese, completely out of shape or a novice, as in my book, I recommend two months of pre-training. You need to get your body ready to actually work out. Jumping right into hardcore workouts will only result in fatigue, excessive soreness or worse; injury. Take the time to get your body ready for a workout. However, even the workouts outlined in my book, build from the pre-training phase. You want to be progressive in your resistance, but you also want to be consistent.

When it comes to endurance, as I stated above, most people waste plenty of their valuable time because of poor eating choices. If you want to burn stored body fat for energy, restrict your carbohydrate intake. Does it make sense to give your body an alternate fuel to burn when you are trying to burn something else? Also, get away from the timed exercises. I never understood that one. If you are new to working out; go outside and walk around the block a few times and yes time yourself. Not so that you walk for the same time on your next walk, but so that on your next walk you try to complete the same distance faster. Slowly increase your distance and speed until you are pushing yourself and burning body fat. Another happening in the gym, or the track or along the levy system that makes me smile is the people who spend all this time doing “cardio” all the while they are carrying on a conversation. If you can carry on a conversation, you aren’t working hard enough. The football coach at my high school would always yell; if you can talk, you aren’t working hard enough.

As always, when embarking on an exercise program get a medical check up. It is important to take care of ourselves, but we must be sure we are healthy enough not to cause more harm than good.

Keep the complexity out of your workout. Keep it simple, keep it consistent and you will get the results you are seeking.

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Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi is the author of the life changing book,A Life Beyond Weight Loss. He is available to appear on any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared onWYLN TV -35′s Storm Politics with Tiffany Cloud, WILK’s The Sue Henry Show, Magic 93′s Frankie In The Morning, WBRE’s PA Live, SSPTV’s News 13, Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Entercom’s Outlook on Northeast PA with Shadoe Steele, Citadel Broadcasting’s Sunday Magazine with Brian Hughes, Lisa Davis’ Your Health Radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast, Dr. Robert Su’s Carbohydrates Can Kill Podcast.

Dr. Joe Leonardi also will come and speak to your group; to learn more about his motivational speaking fees and availability contact him at docjoeleonardi@betterlifeseminars.com and check out his web site www.betterlifeseminars.com.

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************The posting that I write do not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions.*************

He is available to speak at no charge to any school or any youth group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Lisa Davis’ Your health radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast.

Movies, books, articles and stories have touched us all at one time or another. Some stir us with negative emotions of outrage and anger. Yet, others move us to action. Moreover, others open our eyes to the realization of just how wonderful life is and inspire us to be more than we are.

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The first movie ever to motivate me was Rocky. The story of the broken down, never could have been a contender fighter was as uplifting as it was powerful. How many kids cracked a half dozen or so eggs into a glass and felt the raw liquid slime slip down our throats? We convinced ourselves that it was delicious, and fought the reflex to expel the uncooked concoction, confident that we would be able to workout harder and heavier because it helped The Italian Stalliongo the distance.

While the real life Ali-Wepner match may have sparked the fighting style, the tale of Rocky Balboa is Hollywood myth. To paraphrase a cliché — Life is more uplifting than fiction.

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Recently, I took my girlfriend’s daughter to see Soul Surfer; the real life account of Bethany Hamilton. For those who don’t know; thirteen year old Hamilton was a rising surf star based in Hawaii. One day while training on the ocean, a shark attack almost took her life. While she survived the attack, the shark severed her left arm at the shoulder.

If there was a give reason to simply give up one’s dreams; that may have been it. Yet, the young woman wasn’t about to quit. After the attack, all she thought about was getting back on her board and competing. When the task became to be too difficult, she was ready to abandon her life’s ambition.

On a volunteer mission to help the tsunami-ravaged people of Thailand, she was given the opportunity to see human suffering up close. Returning home, she was overwhelmed by letters from people across the globe who were inspired by the failed efforts that caused her to want to quit.

After some serious soul searching, Bethany Hamilton made the decision that what had happened to her would not derail her ambitions. She made the choice to not simply overcome her circumstances, but to be better because of them.

One of my first columns that I authored for the Pittston Sunday Dispatch was about local Paralympic skier; Stephanie Jallen. I discussed how I did not want to work out on a particular day just because I was tired. I was inspired not to walk out of the gym or take it easy by the example of Miss Jallen.

I walked away from the movie feeling much the same way. Life can be hard, brutal and downright unfair. There are fear and hate mongering harbingers of doom, such as WILK’s Steve Corbett, who will tell you how awful your existence is — but it is up to us how we chose to respond to adversity.

You can wallow in the angst and pessimism of those around you and quit on yourself, or you can follow the motivation stories of Stephanie Jallen and Bethany Hamilton and take charge of the only thing in life you actually have any control over; yourself.

He is available to speak at no charge to any school or any youth group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Lisa Davis’ Your health radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast.

“If you want to cultivate the mind of your pupil, you have first to cultivate the strength of his/her body, that is the one which must support his/her mind; make the pupil strong and healthy to make him wise and intelligent.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

From carbohydrate loaded school meals to soda machines to cutting recess to reducing, if not eliminating all together, physical education classes — our schools are failing our children’s health and wellness. What are we going to do?

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The First Lady, Michelle Obama, has started to increase awareness of the childhood obesity epidemic and she has taken some proactive steps. Her Let’s Move initiative is a step in the right direction. Her food recommendations for the school menus needs work, but that is for another posting.

An ABC news report stated that are nearly three hundred and fifty million people world-wide with type II diabetes. In the same report it was stated that 35 to 40% of new cases are happening in younger and younger people. Some who are only in only the fifth grade. That means children as young as ten years old are being diagnosed with what was commonly referred to as ADULT onset diabetes.

So what was an answer? Well, the barbaric, bariatric butchers are starting to cut into these children. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.

Gastric by-pass surgery on children! Really? A reduced stomach capacity in a child! Really? Potential malabsorption issues for the rest of one’s life, which hopefully could be decades! Really?

Gastric by-pass surgery is rarely, if ever, genuinely necessary in adults and it sure as hell is NOT warranted in children. I have to wonder what is the logic of people when the answer is so simple. Obesity is not a complex issue and the solutions are not complex either. The only difficulty is that we have to practice self-discipline. We have to learn to say no to ourselves and to our children when it comes to unhealthy food choices.

We also need to start getting on our school boards and administrators. They need to step up and take responsibility for their actions and decisions. Physical education needs to be implemented five days a week. Food options need to stop including starches, refined sugars and nutrient deficient foods. Soda machines need to be banned from the school property.

Administrators need to start educating our educators. I recently gave a presentation to area teachers titled: The Role of Educators in Student Fitness, Wellness and Nutrition. It was well received and those in attendance were hungry for the information. Teachers are willing to learn and they are more than willing to help — they just need the tools to get the job done.

He is available to speak to any school, association or group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; 94.3 FM’s Tough Talk With Joe Peters; Lisa Davis’ Your health radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast among many personal speaking engagements.

He is available to speak to any school, association or group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; 94.3 FM’s Tough Talk With Joe Peters; Lisa Davis’ Your health radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast among many personal speaking engagements.

I received a phone call from one of my weight loss clients last night. She was irate about local talk show host Steve Corbett going on and on about consuming beer and wine and then having the nerve to talk about how healthy he eats and his current fitness level. I didn’t hear the show yesterday, actually I haven’t listened to the show in months, but I have heard him make similar comments in the past. Just for full disclosure, I happened to receive an email from Steve taking me to task about criticizing his negativity based talk show. He made some comments which demonstrated that either he didn’t read the entire posting(s) or Steve the writer and the master of single sentence paragraphs, has difficulty comprehending fully composed paragraphs.

But, I digress.

This particular client has encouraged me to write about alcohol consumption in the past. She has been upset by various programing that glorifies drinking while ignoring the deleterious effects of spirits on the human body. It is a topic that I always intend to write about, but other topics jump ahead to my attention. I apologize for the delay.

When it comes to weight loss and/or a fit and healthy life, alcohol has no place. There I said it! However, no matter how factual my statement is, I live in the real world and realize that, for whatever reason, people like to consume wine, beer or the harder stuff. When I make the statement I get the following questions:

– Do you drink? Yes, I do, on very rare occasion. I think in the last year I may have had two mixed drinks, perhaps six or so beers and a few glasses of wine.

-What do you drink when you’re out? I usually have either unsweetened iced tea or water. I used to drink diet soda, but I have gotten away from artificial sweeteners. (More on that topic another posting.)

-What about the studies that claim alcohol has preventative properties? There is some research that infers that a glass of wine or a beer may be healthful, but in general, the negative effects far outweigh any possible benefit.

When people come to me for help I vigorously discourage any alcohol consumption for the first month or so. Alcohol is a system wide depressant. When you are trying to drop weight and get fit, one of your desires is to increase your metabolic rate. Well, isn’t it counterproductive to do all that work and put in all that effort just to counteract the effect by slowing your system with a drug? Don’t you want to shed sluggish feelings? If so, then simply stay away from booze.

Wine and beer are broken down into simple sugars. On a low carbohydrate eating regime what is the point of avoiding starchy foods if you are simply going to drink them? The other issue, especially when it comes to wine, is that few people ever has a single serving. I have heard the outrage. What do you mean? I only have a glass of wine each night? To that I answer; an average serving of wine is about four to five ounces, not a balloon goblet filled to the rim.

Your best bet is to avoid alcohol as part of your daily regime. Liquor is nutrient deficient, clouds the mind, makes one sluggish and will do nothing but hold you back from achieving your full fitness potential.

He is available to speak to any school, association or group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; 94.3 FM’s Tough Talk With Joe Peters; Lisa Davis’ Your health radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast among many personal speaking engagements.

You can’t go a single day without hearing or reading something about the Obesity Epidemic. Even the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, is involved. Make no mistake about it, there is an obesity epidemic. Unfortunately, either no one is listening or the information they are listening to is incorrect — either way the obesity epidemic is getting worse.

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Awareness is great but alone, it is not the solution. We have been aware of the fattening of the United States for more than a century. Bernarr McFadden was sounding the warning cry as far back as 1902. In his his magazine Physical Culture, he declared that weakness was a crime and implored his readers not to be criminals. Most people did not hear, let alone pay attention, however some peole listened. One of those was an Italian immigrant who resided in New York, Angelo Siciliano, who became famous as Charles Atlas. Another who had heard McFadden’s message was a young, sugar addicted sickly young west coast resident. He not only heard the message, he listened and changed his life. That young boy became a chiropractor and without a doubt the leading fitness enthusiasts to walk the planet earth. The young boy was Jack LaLanne. Many listened to Dr. Jack LaLanne, however still many did not.

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For more than one hundred years people have been sounding the alarm; shouting from coast to coast that obesity is coming, obesity is coming and unlike the colonist of revolutionary America, citizens of the United States chose not to listen. The result is a population with people unable to bend over and tie their own shoes; a population of diabetics who will make owners of dialysis centers wealthy beyond imagination; a population that has given rise to big and tall and plus size stores; a population whose young now require insulin to live and perhaps worst of all — a generation that may not live as long as their parents.

However, there are still many who sabotage our efforts. They could be those we are close to personally, or they could be those who we never meet in person, but they are there. People as famous as Rush Limbaugh and President Obama to Wilkes-Barre Scranton personalities like Steve Corbett and L.A. Tarone.The enemies of the state of health and fitnessare out there at every level and on Fridays I will endeavor to call them out. It is important to recognize the enemies in this battle, not to assign blame, but to recognize who they are and defeat them so that we can in turn win the battle over obesity!

He is available to speak to any school, association or group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; 94.3 FM’s Tough Talk With Joe Peters; Lisa Davis’ Your health radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast among many personal speaking engagements.

Welcome to the Power of PIES. I apologize to those coming to this site looking for dessert : ) Instead, the PIES represented here is the powerful combination of Prayer, Imagination, Emotion, and Starting now. Read on, and I promise you will be impacted in a positive way. After all, life is sweet. Enjoy it!